FUNDING CUTS COULD GROUND NATIONAL GUARD POT-SEARCH CHOPPERS

KNOXVILLE - The Republican plan to cut off congressional earmarks
could cripple Tennessee's efforts in the war on drugs, officials said
today.

Police agencies and communities around the state have relied for the
past decade on the Tennessee National Guard's Counterdrug Task Force
for anti-drug education programs, intelligence analysis and other
support. Three-quarters of the funding for that task force comes from
a $4 million add-on - or earmark - to the National Defense
Appropriation Bill each year, said Maj. Randy Harris, spokesman for
the National Guard.

Losing that earmark would mean slashing the task force from more than
80 Guardsmen to about a dozen for the entire state, Harris said. Guard
helicopters that help local police search for marijuana could be
grounded. Boot camps for juvenile offenders might have to turn kids
away.

"If it doesn't pass, we don't have much choice but to cut back,"
Harris said. "It will pretty much curtail just about everything we
do."